1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to novel features of latch, lock and hinge components that are well suited for use with closures such as tonneau covers that cover and close the upwardly opening rear cargo compartments of pickup trucks and the like, it being understood, however, that these components and certain of their novel features also may be utilized individually and in various combinations with other types of closures and for other purposes.
2. Prior Art
It is known to provide the rear cargo compartments of vehicles such as pickup trucks with closures referred to as xe2x80x9ctonneau coversxe2x80x9d 1) that may be latched and locked closed to protectively enclose the contents of the tonneau covered cargo compartments, 2) that may be opened and re-closed in one way or another to provide at least limited access to contents therein and to accommodate loading and unloading, and 3) that may be entirely removed when desired for such purposes as enabling the vehicles to carry tall or bulky cargo that cannot be accommodated within the confines of the tonneau covered cargo compartments.
When a tonneau cover is to be installed on a pickup truck, two elongate steel side rails typically are positioned to extend forwardly-rearwardly along opposite sides of upper portions of the truck""s cargo compartment, and are connected to body portions of the truck that underlie the side rails. Latch, lock and hinge components that are needed to removably attach the tonneau cover to the truck usually connect with these side railsxe2x80x94so that only the side rails themselves need to be physically attached to the body of the truck. Usually, a tonneau cover is connected by hinges to front end regions of the side rails, and latch assemblies carried by rear end regions of the tonneau cover are engageable with latch strikers carried by rear end regions of the side rails to hold the cover closed. So-called xe2x80x9cgas propsxe2x80x9d (known more precisely to those skilled in the art as xe2x80x9cgas springsxe2x80x9d) also may connect at their upper ends with opposite sides of the tonneau cover (at points located about mid-way along the length of the depicted tonneau cover), and at their lower ends with the side rails to cushion the pivotal opening and closing movements of the tonneau cover, and to hold the tonneau cover open.
To provide a pivotal connection between forward portions of a tonneau cover and forward end regions of a pair of side rails, various types of hinge components have been utilized. To permit the removal of a tonneau cover from a pickup truck on which it is installed, some of these hinges have been detachably coupled to the rails, or have been provided with disengageable components. The use of detachable hinges and hinges having disengageable components has drawn criticism, and the need for an improved means to provide removable tonneau covers with releasable hinged connections to underlying side rails has become apparent.
To secure a tonneau cover closed, commercially available latches have typically been mounted on the tonneau cover, usually at locations overlying the rear end regions of the side rails, and latch strikers have been connected to the rear end regions of the side rails. An ability to lock the tonneau closed has been provided if the selected latches include a locking capability. If two lockable latches are utilized (with each positioned to overlie the rear end region of a separate one of the side rails), each of these latches must be separately unlocked and operated before the tonneau cover can be openedxe2x80x94an arrangement that has proved cumbersome and has drawn criticism.
Thus it will be understood that the latch, lock and hinge components that have been used to date with tonneau covers have presented a number of drawbacks that typically have left tonneau covers more awkward, time-consuming and difficult to install, remove, open, close, latch, unlatch, lock and unlock than is desirable. In some instances the selected latch, lock and hinge components have provided shorter than desired service lives and/or a lesser than the desired degree of security by virtue of their being relatively simple to defeat, force, break or bypass. In some instances the latch, lock and hinge components have been too weak to withstand the forces that have been encountered during normal service use (e.g., damage or unintended release has been noted as the result of these components being impacted by cargo that shifts as a pickup truck travels from place to place), or these components have taken on such size and bulk as to project into regions of cargo compartments that should be reserved for cargo.
The present invention addresses the foregoing and other needs and drawbacks of the prior art by pro-providing a thoughtfully designed set of latch, lock and hinge hardware that is particularly well suited for use with tonneau covers and the like, characterized by novel features that also have other applications.
In accordance with one aspect of the preferred practice of the present invention, a dual-acting latch operating assembly is provided that can be installed at a central location between two latch assemblies for selectively operating one or both of the latch assemblies to release latch strikers that are latchingly engaged by the latch assemblies. The latch operating assembly preferably utilizes an elongate housing that defines elongate recesses near its opposite ends. Independently movable slides are nested in each of these recesses. The slides have rearwardly extending posts that extend through slots formed through the back walls of the recesses, and through elongate locking members that have end formations which extend behind central portions of the housing where a key-operated lock cylinder is installed if a locking capability is to be provided. The locking members move with the slides, and the permitted extent of this movement is limited at least in part by the length of the housing slots through which the posts of the slides extend. Retaining washers are installed on the posts to hold the slides and the locking members in place on opposite sides of the back walls of the recesses. Separate cables connect the rear end regions of each of the posts with a separate one of the latch assemblies for tripping (i.e., operating) each of the latch assemblies in response to movement of its associated slide from a normal xe2x80x9cnon-operatedxe2x80x9d position to an xe2x80x9coperatedxe2x80x9d position.
In the preferred practice of the present invention, the locking members of the dual-acting latch operating assembly have end formations that move along opposite sides of a rear end region of the lock cylinder when the slides are moved from their normal xe2x80x9cnon-operatedxe2x80x9d positions to their xe2x80x9coperatedxe2x80x9d positions to operate the associated latch mechanisms. Provided on the rear end region of the lock cylinder is a formation that can be oriented to align with the paths of movement of the locking members to provide no obstruction thereto, or that can be turned transversely to block these paths to xe2x80x9clockxe2x80x9d the slides of the operating assembly against being moved to operate the associated latch assemblies. This simple arrangement of locking components provides a secure locking function that occupies very little space and that requires a minimum of componentsxe2x80x94a single lock at a central location situated between the two latch assemblies that requires a single use of a single key in order to unlock the tonneau cover.
Another feature of the preferred practice of the present invention resides in the option that is presented by the versatile design of the latch operating assembly to include or exclude (among the components of the latch operating assembly) springs for biasing the slides of the operating assembly away from their operated positions (i.e., toward their normal non-operated positions). If the latch assemblies that are associated with the latch operating assembly include springs that are capable of tensioning the cables that connect with the slides of the latch operating assembly to apply the needed biasing force to the slides, the latch operating assembly need not be provided with slide-biasing springs, whereby its cost and complexity can be held to a minimum. Alternatively, if the latch assemblies do not utilize springs that have quite the biasing power needed to properly tension the cables that connect with the slides of the latch operating assembly, auxiliary springs can be provided to apply added tensioning force to the cables to bias the slides toward their normal, non-operated positions.
For use with a tonneau cover having a curved or rounded rear end region, the housing of the operating mechanism preferably is curved and provided with upper and lower lip formations that complement the curvature of the rear end region of the tonneau cover. The configuration of the upper and lower lips may differ so as to give the upper and lower lip portions of the housing a non-symmetrical appearance, or may be substantially identical to provide a symmetrical appearance (see Patent D-415,406 issued Oct. 19, 1999, and pending application Ser. No. 29/105,433 filed May 25, 1999 wherein alternate latch operating assembly housing configurations are shown that may be employed in practicing the present invention, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference). For mounting on surfaces having other configurations, the curvature and configuration of the housing lips and ends may be modified to provide a variety of acceptable appearancesxe2x80x94including a shape that defines a relatively flat rear mounting surface (not shown) for mounting the latch operating assembly on flat surfaces.
In accordance with another aspect of the preferred practice of the present invention, a proven type of commercially available rotary latch assembly sold by Eberhard Manufacturing Company (a division of The Eastern Company, the assignee hereof) is utilized 1) to releasably latch the rear end region of a tonneau cover to latch strikers connected to the rear end regions of a pair of side rails (that underlie the tonneau cover in the usual manner), and 2) to releasably connect hinges that are carried by the front end region of the tonneau cover to latch strikers connected to the front end regions of the side rails. The rotary latch assemblies that preferably are employed with tonneau covers in accordance herewith preferably are of the type depicted in FIG. 18 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,295 (wherein a description also is provided of the operation of these rotary latch assemblies, with the disclosure of this patent also being incorporated herein by reference). While the operating components of these rotary latch assemblies are known and proven entities, the housings of these latches assemblies may be modified as needed to provide mounting surfaces that carry slotted holes or other mounting formations that can cooperate with mounting hardware such as threaded fasteners to mount the rotary latch assemblies on the cover in a manner that will allow for adjustment of the positioning of these latchesxe2x80x94so the latches will function properly if the spacing between the parallel side rails varies a bit from one installation to another.
In accordance with another aspect of the preferred practice of the present invention, a novel type of latch-carrying hinge assembly is provided that utilizes pivotally connected arms that do not need to be disconnected from each other in order to remove a tonneau cover from a pickup truck, and that therefore do not need to be reconnected when the tonneau cover is to be reinstalled. A variety of hinge arm configurations that may be utilized in practicing the present invention are disclosed in pending application Ser. No. 29/097,281 filed Dec. 3, 1998 and in application Ser. Nos. 29/109,243 and 29/109,244 filed Aug. 12, 1999, the disclosures which are incorporated herein by reference.
In accordance with preferred practice, the type of disconnection that is utilized (to permit tonneau cover removal) takes place between the hinge-carried latch assemblies and latch strikers that are carried by the front end regions of the side rails that underlie the tonneau cover (i.e., no disconnection takes place between hinge arms or xe2x80x9chalvesxe2x80x9d). The latch strikers each provide a rod-like formation that is captured by a separate one of the hinge-carried latch assemblies so as to fix one half of each of the hinges to the truck body, leaving the other halves of the hinges to pivot with the tonneau cover relative to the truck body as the tonneau cover is swung open and closed. One form of latch striker housing configuration that can be used in practicing this invention is disclosed in pending patent application Ser. No. 097,280 filed Dec. 3, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
To install the tonneau cover, it is simply lowered into its proper position overlying the cargo compartmentxe2x80x94a movement that brings the hinge-carried latch assemblies into latching engagement with the rail-carried latch strikers to securely connect the hinges to the truck bed. To remove the tonneau cover, the cover is pivoted open, and the hinge-carried latch assemblies are tripped by pulling short cables that are attached thereto (which can be accessed once one has pivoted the tonneau cover to an open position).
Still another aspect of the preferred practice of the present invention resides in the provision of protectively enclosed latch strikers that are secured to the front end regions of the side rails to cooperate with the hinge-carried latch assemblies. When these latch assemblies latchingly engage the latch strikers, the components of the latch assemblies are shielded by the latch strikers from being struck by moving cargo, and the release arms of the latch assemblies are shielded from being operated due to cargo impacts. Other features that may be utilized in the preferred practice of the invention include 1) the addition to the latch strikers of spring biased positioning devices that engage the housings of the hinge-carried latch assemblies when the latch assemblies are brought into latching engagement with the latch strikers, and/or 2) the addition to the latch strikers of sturdy compression coil springs for biasing the latch assemblies out of latching engagement with the latch strikers when the latch assemblies are tripped, so that the weight of the tonneau cover will not cause the latch assemblies to remain in latching engagement with the latch strikers when the latch assemblies are tripped during efforts to remove the tonneau cover from the pickup truck.